Remains of 368 Japanese war dead laid to rest in National Cemetery

The remains of 368 Japanese people were newly laid to rest in a memorial service in Tokyo on Monday at a national cemetery for unidentified people who died abroad during World War II.
The remains were collected from locations including Ioto, a Pacific island widely known as Iwo Jima, Solomon Islands and Russia.
The number of people laid to rest at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery now totals 371,008, including those who died after the war as detainees in Siberia.
Of some 2.4 million Japanese people who died abroad during the war, the remains of 1.12 million have not been recovered 80 years after the end of the war.
Some 400 people including bereaved family members attended Monday's ceremony, hosted by the welfare ministry. Crown Prince Akishino, Crown Princess Kiko and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba were among them.
In a speech, welfare minister Takamaro Fukuoka pledged to pass on lessons from the war to future generations so that it would not be repeated.
The crown prince and the crown princess offered prayers and bereaved family members laid flowers.
Of the remains brought back by then-Japanese troops or collected on government missions, those that remained unidentified or for which families were not found were laid to rest at the cemetery, built in 1959.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

44 minutes ago

Memorial Service Held in Fukuoka for Executed U.S. POWs

Fukuoka, June 20 (Jiji Press)--A memorial service was held in Fukuoka on Friday for U.S. prisoners of war who were executed without trial by the western command of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army in the closing days of World War II. The event was attended by people related to the POW executions from Japan and the United States, including a consul of the U.S. Consulate in Fukuoka and a U.S. Forces Japan chaplain. "We must do our part to ensure that the friendship between our two nations continues and leads to lasting peace," Katsuya Toji, 71, the third son of a former paymaster captain of the army who was judged a war criminal, said in his address at the ceremony, held at the Aburayama Kannon temple in the southwestern Japan city. Toji's father, Kentaro, executed four captured B-29 bomber crew members soon after Kentaro lost his mother in a U.S. air strike. "War leaves deep scars, not only on the defeated but also the victors," Toji stressed. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]

3 hours ago

A-Bomb Dome Recommended as Special Historic Site in Japan

News from Japan Society Culture Jun 20, 2025 18:36 (JST) Tokyo, June 20 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese government panel on Friday proposed the designation of the Atomic Bomb Dome in the western Japan city of Hiroshima as a special historic site. It will likely become the country's first such site built in the modern era. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Atomic Bomb Dome is a symbol of atomic-bombed remnants, telling the horror of the first such bomb used in war. The U.S. atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, in the closing days of World War II. The Atomic Bomb Dome was completed in 1915 for showcasing products from Hiroshima Prefecture in order to promote the development of local industries. A preservation report from the Hiroshima municipal government, released in March this year, said that the building has kept its appearance of the day and needs better preservation work. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press

NHK

3 hours ago

• NHK

Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima to be designated 'Special Historic Site'

The Japanese government will designate the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, western Japan, as a Special Historic Site that has especially high value for preservation. It would be the first such designation for a structure built since the Meiji Period, which started in the latter 19th century. A panel at Japan's Cultural Affairs Agency recommended the designation on Friday. The brick building was erected in 1915 and served as the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall. It partially survived the 1945 atomic bombing of the city. Also called Genbaku Dome, the structure is already designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. The building was only about 160 meters from ground zero, but the shell of the dome miraculously survived the bombing while inner parts of the building burned down. The panel said it regards the structure as having extremely high value as a symbol of disaster from the first-ever atomic bombing in history, which is preserved in the same state as immediately after the explosion. The most recent monument designated a Special Historic Site to date is Goryokaku, a western-style fort in Hokkaido, which was completed in the late Edo Period in the 19th Century.